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Day 7 - Race 6 THE END

Posted 4 months, 11 days ago

Day 7 - Race 6 THE END
Sorry for the late post but it was straight into boat pack up mode and organization for China (as the boat heads there straight from Miami) and then onto the prize giving.Race 6 Conditions: N 7-15kntsPlacing: 19thBiscayne Bay dished out another really tough day of racing. Again starting in very light winds that saw me lying on the foredeck while sailing up wind and by the end of the race we were finishing in a brisk 15knts. It was a case of Hero to Zero (or 6th which ever way you look at it?). A very tricky first upwind leg saw a huge split in the fleet, we were just inside the boats far right and the eventual shift was enough for us to just lay the mark, rounding in 3rd position. At this stage all our main competition was very deep in the pack and we were Winning the World Championships at that stage. Never taking it lightly as they are such long races we set off down wind with the leaders. But lady luck was not with us as a huge split in the breeze (direction and pressure) allowed approx 30 boats to sail through inside us, including all our big competition. The top 10 boats from the top mark were all worse than 20th at the bottom!! It was now time to fight back, a really tough race as lanes were limited, and shift dictated the only tack to sail on. We were still pretty far back at the second top mark but managed to pass some boats down wind and a few more on the last beat. Although we came right into the leaders and our nearest rivals overall (GER, SUI) it was not enough to avoid dropping to 6th Overall, finally finishing in 19th for the race.The amazing thing about Sport and especially Sailing due the openness of conditions it takes you on an amazing ride of Highs and Lows, Stresses and Reliefs,  Joy and bitter disappointment. While this regatta is not our main focus for our campaign it still did provide plenty of the above, but at the end of the day Hamish and l are smiling, and feeling confident about the work we have done to date towards the 2008 Olympics. If they were tomorrow we would have a real shot at a Medal, a Gold at that. Now it is time to execute the final parts of our preparation and turn up feeling even stronger.Equipment: The Mighty NZL 8187 proved to us that she is right up there (a very special boat) and the sails we have been developing, tweaking with Mark Bradford provided all the modes/ speed we were after. Thank you for following these updates, all your supportive emails and comments mean a lot to Hamish and l. We have a really exciting schedule coming up and as soon as l descend from this cloud l have been riding for the last 8 days l will bring you all up to speed.Congratulations to Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki 2008 World Champions for sailing an amazingly strong regatta. Another Gold Star on the line at the 2008 Beijing Olympics!! Full Story »

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